Steven Spielberg’s first collaboration with Tom Cruise featured the cinema titans on top of their respective games in the sci-fi action thriller Minority Report.

Set in the year 2054, Minority Report stars Cruise as John Anderton, the commanding officer of Precrime, a police unit that can accurately predict and prevent crime. When John accused of a future murder, he goes on the run and uncovers a vast conspiracy.

Based on the short story by Philip K. Dick, Minority Report saw Spielberg’s flair for delivering visual effects heavy environments at its best, providing an immersive world for Cruise to deliver an action-man performance of strong emotional depth. The script by Jon Cohen and Scott Frank (Logan), meanwhile, intelligently delves into themes of free will versus determinism as well as the nature of law and order in a high-tech society. 

Steven Spielberg’s first musical is a dazzling and emotional affair, with West Side Story circa 2021 given a visual update yet still relevant in its depiction of those who dare to love in a world consumed with hatred.

Set in 1957, West Side Story centres on a turf war between white American gang The Jets and Puerto Rican gang The Sharks that culminates in a winner-takes-all rumble. Adding more fuel to the inter-racial fire is a love story between reformed criminal and former Jet, Tony (Ansel Elgort), and Maria (newcomer Rachel Zegler) who is the sister of Sharks leader Bernardo (David Alvarez.)

Based on the popular Broadway musical that was first adapted to the big screen in 1961, West Side Story offers Spielberg the chance to bring his filmmaking talent to the musical genre, which he does with a dazzling display of image and sound that ranks in craft with his sci-fi epics.

Controversial in nature and fearless in execution, Munich saw Steven Spielberg dive into the choppy waters that is the Israel-Palestine conflict through an espionage thriller that is as compelling as it is thought-provoking.  

Set after the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack (in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian militants), Munich tells the story of Avner Kaufman (an excellent Eric Bana) a Mossad agent who is tasked to lead a team in a mission to eliminate the people responsible.

With stellar screenwriters Tony Kushner (Lincoln) and Eric Roth (The Insider) adapting the George Jonas narrative nonfiction book Vengeance (which first chronicled these events), Munich proves to be an espionage thriller with a stirring conscience that portrays the cycle of violence that fuels a never-ending war.

Compelled to answer the criticism targeted towards Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Steven Spielberg tapped into the adventurous spirit of Raiders of the Lost Ark and made a film in The Last Crusade which some deem the best in the Indiana Jones series.

Harrison Ford returns Dr. Indiana Jones, the crusading archaeologist who partners with his estranged father Dr. Henry Jones (Sean Connery) to find the mythical Holy Grail before the occult obsessed Nazi’s get their hands on it.

The addition of Sean Connery as Indy’s father is a big reason for the success of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusad, with Ford and Connery sharing an easy chemistry on screen. Several action scenes rank among Spielberg’s best including a hoot of an opening sequence in which River Phoenix plays a young Indiana Jones to charming effect.

As iconic movie imagery goes, the silhouette shot of boy and alien flying across a full moon is one for the ages. It is also one of many magical moments in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, perhaps Steven Spielberg’s most wondrous movie for generations of children. 

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial tells the story of Elliot (Henry Thomas) an insecure young boy who befriends an alien stranded on Earth who he names E.T. When government agents attempt to capture E.T., Elliot and his friends try to help the yearning alien find his way home.  

A perfect blend of Spielberg’s knack for sci-fi spectacle, family drama and unabashed sentiment, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was a box office titan that made many a movie goer weep. A digital remaster released 20 years later was met with controversy with its slight alterations, proving that the original is always the best.

When it comes to the many attributes that makes Steven Spielberg such a lauded and popular filmmaker, his ability to create top grade action-adventure movies ranks high. Raiders of the Lost Ark is a case in point.

Introducing everyone’s favourite whip towing, fedora wearing archaeologist Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), Raiders of the Lost Ark saw Spielberg hit another level in his filmmaking prowess in this George Lucas conceived, Lawrence Kasdan penned adventure where Dr. Jones must find the legendary Ark of the Covenant before it falls into the hands of occult obsessed Nazi’s.

Beginning with an iconic opening sequence and filled with many more memorable moments, Raiders of the Lost Ark also features what many believe to be the ultimate Harrison Ford performance, where his movie star charm, sly humour, no nonsense demeanour, and one hell of an over hand right make for an iconic character. 

A film that is as awe inspiring in its imagery as it is touching in its themes, Close Encounters of the Third Kind saw Steven Spielberg find that perfect balance between spectacle and emotion.

Richard Dreyfuss stars in Close Encounters of the Third as a regular family man whose life is changed after an encounter with a UFO. What follows is an amazing journey into self-discovery as Spielberg channels personal family struggles into a sci-fi drama featuring great performances from Dreyfuss and the Oscar nominated Melinda Dillon.

Close Encounters of the Third also features one of John Williams’ most memorable compositions in the “five tone motif” shared between the alien visitors and the humans.

Has there ever been a more powerful opening 20 min in film history? By the time Steven Spielberg unleashed hell on earth in his brutal depiction of the D-Day Invasion, Saving Private Ryan had audiences gripped in a tale of bravery amidst the brutality of war. 

Set in 1944 in Normandy, France, Saving Private Ryan stars Tom Hanks as Captain John Miller, the leader of a group of U.S. Army Rangers tasked to retrieve paratrooper James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon) whose brothers have been killed in combat.

With America’s favourite movie star Tom Hanks leading a terrific ensemble that also stars Ed Burns, Barry Pepper and Tom Sizemore, Saving Private Ryan blends incredible action filmmaking alongside moving dramatic moments in Spielberg’s moving tribute to the “greatest generation.”

In Spielberg’s filmography perhaps no other image struck a chord as devastatingly simple as a young girl with a red coat - set upon a black and white backdrop - lost amongst the evil insanity that was the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto. It is one of many moments in Schindler’s List that makes it a film of immensely powerful significance and cemented Steven Spielberg’s reputation as one of the best filmmakers of all time.

Schindler’s List stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a German businessman and member of the Nazi party who exploited Polish-Jewish refugees by employing them in his factories, only to be moved by their plight at the hands of the sadistic SS lieutenant Amon Goth (Ralph Fiennes) and eventually securing their freedom.

Shot in black and white and featuring incredible performances from Neeson, Fiennes and Ben Kingsley, Schindler’s List saw Spielberg reach artistic highs that silenced many a critic who found his filmmaking to “Hollywood”. The film also proved to be a personal turning point for Spielberg, who would go on to create the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, a non-profit organisation that provides visual testimony by survivors of the Holocaust.